May 12, 2009

Sharing a cottage...

Even the most harmonious families face difficulties in co-ownership of a cottage. If any of you have co-owned a boat you know what I'm talking about. Our family was pretty typical..still is actually. Throw some in-laws and children, grandchildren, etc. into the mix and eventually the family grows beyond the number of beds in even the largest of cottages. The schedule that was worked out was done to offer "exclusive" use for a 4 week period each summer and provided a first come first served opportunity out of season. A cottage account was created, all costs and other various fees, needs etc. was drawn from that account and while one family member managed the calendar and notices, another managed the account. For the most part, it worked. It always requires some degree of compromise but for many years, everyone could plan ahead, use and enjoy the cottage during "their" time and share the costs of ownership. Generally it's the money that becomes an issue. One member of the group won't pay their share. This was never a problem. Agreeing on improvement projects was an issue and that was the direct result of little to no communication. We all knew when we could come and go, how much money to send and beyond that.. a short e-mail from time to time was it.

When it was made clear that David wanted to own the cottage ALONE, with no communication or discussion possible, partition became the only option. Partition is a nasty thing. By law, no one can be forced to OWN property. If someone wants out they can file for partition. In this case, David filed because he didn't want anyone else to own the cottage. The rules of partition are scary. Beware!!!

14 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Part of the bad PR DAvid seemed to be spreading around camp was that he was the only one footing the bills. Of course, he probably needed to "build a case" to not seem like a total A hole, especially seeing as he was camp president.

The common theme here is poor communication between the owners, and a general lack of flexibility and cooperation.

Exactly right. We'd heard that he was telling folks that he was paying all the bills. Technically, he was correct in that he wrote the checks off the joint account. Everyone contributed exactly what he asked. He wasn't too kind about it.. "send me xx$$ NOW".. when we asked to see the "books"...ha. Our attorney had to pick "them" up from his attorney. There were no books. A check register with some weird entries, a shoe box with some receipts and any time we'd ask for some accounting the response was "you can come over any time and look". At what? It is still a mystery to this day.

When one party refuses to communicate (for whatever reason), it's a challenge to work things out.

I think all the kids on the receiving end are in the dark. Why would any kid let their parents do this to anyone. Unless they are just as bad as the parents. Good parenting skills. David probably thinks somewhere down the line they'll forget about all of this and nobody will know any different. I hope some people will remind the grandkids of what david did and who he did it to. The slymons cottage will always be known as the cottage that brought down Lakeside. I really hope that in the end David loses his presidency. He deserves every ill thought that people have of him. Anyone that likes david slymons is thinking about doing the same thing to their family as he did. WHAT AN ASSHOLE!!!!.......

Can't say what the kids feel. Both boys were in court almost every time. I can say we all wondered what they must be thinking. If it had been my parent pulling something like this I'd have gotten the other siblings together and had a chat. A serious chat. I suspect no one can tell David anything. Once he sets his mind to something..get out of his way. I'd be embarassed to say the least...

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. These are things we don't know we don't know.

Really.....

Government does not create jobs or wealth. It leeches off productive people and institutions. At the moment, the leeches are sucking the host dry and rapidly killing prosperity and wealth in this country. And dooming us to a much, much worse economy in the very near future.

"Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience."

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill